The Rootless Years of Benjamin Bird

In Southwestern Oklahoma in 1953, nineteen-year-old Benjamin Bird had not yet learned how amazingly diverse human sexuality could be. Growing up in a devout rural Christian family who believed that homosexuality was an abomination justifying death, he dared not reveal his yearning for sexual intimacy with certain attractive males in his small circle of acquaintances, for fear of being attacked or shunned.

Because Benjamin was also sexually attracted toward certain desirable females and becau...